CDS (I) 2022 General Knowledge · Question 79 of 120

Correct — A, Habeas Corpus. The Latin phrase habeas corpus is the operative opening of the old English writ, and it means literally that you may have the body — the command to a person detaining another to produce that person before the court and justify the detention. It is the remedy against unlawful confinement, and the court's inquiry is narrow and quick: is there lawful authority for holding this person, and if not, release follows. In India it may be issued by the Supreme Court under Article 32 and by every High Court under Article 226, against the State and, unlike most of the writs, against a private person as well — a wife held by her family, a child held by someone with no right to custody. The other three names are also Latin and also describe what the writ does, which is why translating each one is the whole exercise.

• (b)Mandamus — Mandamus means we command. It is an order to a public authority, an inferior court or a tribunal to perform a public duty it has refused or failed to perform; it does not lie against a private person unless that person has been entrusted with a public duty.
• (c)Certiorari — Certiorari means to be certified, or to be informed. It is issued by a higher court to a lower court or a tribunal to quash an order already passed, on the ground of excess of jurisdiction or an error apparent on the face of the record.
• (d)Quo Warranto — Quo warranto means by what authority. It calls on a person occupying a public office to show the legal warrant for holding it, and lies only where the office is public and is created by statute or by the Constitution itself.

The Constitution makes the writs a fundamental right rather than a discretionary remedy. Article 32 lets a person move the Supreme Court directly for the enforcement of Part III rights and empowers that Court to issue directions or orders or writs, including habeas corpus, mandamus, prohibition, quo warranto and certiorari. Article 226 gives the High Courts the same power in wider terms — for the enforcement of fundamental rights and for any other purpose. Ambedkar called Article 32 the heart and soul of the Constitution because without it the rights in Part III would be declarations only.

This is a translation question, and the safest preparation is to learn all five writs by their literal meaning, because the meaning tells you the function. You may have the body points at the person being held; we command points at a duty not performed; to be informed points at a record being called up for review; by what authority points at a title to office; and prohibition, the fifth writ, simply forbids an inferior court to go on with a case beyond its jurisdiction. Two distinctions are worth carrying alongside. Certiorari quashes an order already made, while prohibition stops proceedings still going on. And habeas corpus is the only one of the five that will ordinarily lie against a private individual.

• Habeas corpus — you may have the body; a command to produce a detained person before the court and justify the detention.
• Mandamus — we command; an order to perform a public duty.
• Certiorari — to be certified or informed; quashes an order of a lower court or tribunal.
• Quo warranto — by what authority; questions the holding of a public office.
• Prohibition — the fifth writ; stops an inferior court or tribunal from continuing proceedings beyond its jurisdiction.

• Translating certiorari as to command; that is mandamus.
• Assuming no writ lies against a private person; habeas corpus does.
• Treating Article 32 and Article 226 as identical; Article 226 also runs for any other purpose, beyond Fundamental Rights.

As a meaning-to-writ match, as which writ lies in a described situation, or as which of these is not a writ at all.

• practice — not a real PYQ

  The writ of quo warranto is issued to

  • (a)produce a detained person before the court
  • (b)question a person's authority to hold a public office
  • (c)compel a public authority to perform its duty
  • (d)quash an order of a lower court

  Answer(b) question a person's authority to hold a public office — the phrase means by what authority.

• practice — not a real PYQ

  Which one of the following writs is issued to stop an inferior court from continuing proceedings beyond its jurisdiction?

  • (a)Certiorari
  • (b)Prohibition
  • (c)Mandamus
  • (d)Habeas Corpus

  Answer(b) Prohibition — certiorari quashes an order already made, prohibition stops proceedings still under way.